My Experience with other players before buying this player:-I still use to play my keyboard that I learnt for over 8 years. So I used to listen to a lot of music with my then Music system with loud sounds. This did not go well with the flat system that I used to live in. So I first bought a Chinese made MP3 player. Got it as a 256-Mb player. Connected it to my system and the system made me format it and turned it into an 128-Mb player. Running on a AAA battery, I had lot of problems with repeatedly charging the battery then and again. Then I got myself a new cell phone with MP3 support- Motorola L7. Quite a nice phone and worth the money that one would spent for it. I liked it a lot. But then again, when I wanted to listen to one song, I had to switch on the music player appliaction, which would load right from the start. loading all the songs in the system right from the start, A really time taking thing. So recently, I decided to buy myself a internal battery operated MP3 player, that would have reasonable sound clarity.( I never liked taking the battery out and charging it repeatedly)
At the Shop:-The thing that was actually in my mind was the clip-on kind of 1 Gb mp3 player that looked and resembled the Ipod shuffle. For this, I pested my father and madee him take to richie street( @ Narasingapuram street). We went there and to the shop that I usually but anything from. The shop owner was kind of a friend for us. He had assisted me when I bought my laptop, home theatre speaker set, graphic card, thumb drive etc., theoretically any electronic goods I bought till now. He was a nice guy. Well I listened to the 1 Gb player that I wanted , with his ( the shop keeper) permission. It was not bad at all. For a 850 Rs/- mp3 player. It had the features and the stuffing to really be good. There was FM, mp3 , voice recording. But I was slightly worried . The reason was that it was china product.
The shop keeper told just this in tamil - " Once you buy the product and even turn back and IF the product doesn't work. Just don't come back asking for a replacement. You can check it any number of times here before buying it. "
I come from a middle class family. So I was tensioned because If my father buys me something, he expects me to use it for a long time. If something happens to the product that I buy with interest(with his money), there is no way he'll buy or repair me that thing again ever. My father was there with me, when I was buying it. He was also visually examining other mp3 players there. He saw something that was like a Ipod NANO. Even I thought that it was Ipod NANO. After getting the product from the shop keeper, My father asked to check it.
I started to turn it on. It didn't start at all after the loading screen. The shop keeper told us that he would order for another piece, If we assure him that we would but that. Well, we were really hasty at that point. We wanted good value for our money. Me and My father gazed the entire shop for any other player that would catch our attention. At one corner, there was a small mp3 player packed in a box that had the words -
"Zebronics" on its top. I asked the shop keeper for that. He gave it to me saying it was a good player and that It would really be good. He even promised that If anything happened to the product within the 1 year warantee period, He would even replace it with a new piece.
Here I would start the actual topic - My Review of the new player that has turned my past week upside down:-
For a mp3 player, It was too small - Fitted into my palm quite easily. To say the truth, I didn't even want to operate this piece. I felt it was too small. Further the software resembled the chinese mp3 player that I had used earlier. All coupled together created a hate for this player at first.
The shop keeper's attitude towards this player was different from the previous ones he had shown. He talked so assuringly that my father too liked it and wanted me to try and operate it and wanted my opinion. After a minute or 2, I figured the way to get to the music directory. The player came with a couple of test music files. I plugged in the headset and started one of the test files, which was an explanatory file on the working of the sound in the device.
SHOCKED!!!!!!AMAZED!!!!!!!There is nothing to reveal what I felt. I have used some of my friend's Ipod 80-Gb player. I knew the clarity at full sound. If someone was listening to it, They could in no way listen to anything that others say. It's that powerful. Till date, none of the mp3 players I listened to were even near to that kind of sound performance. That day, I felt I met a real competitor to it.
Amazing soung clarity!.( I felt it was even better than the Ipod Nano)
I heard no noise at all in richie street, I felt like only that explanatory sound was running. I could not even understand my father who was asking how good it was. Anyone who has been to richie street would know how trafficated and noisy it will be, especially on saturdays. I looked at my father and told "OK! buy it!!!!!".
Those words have turned my past week a real musical one. I have been listening to the mp3 player as much as I can. I really love the sound clarity that it produces.
Now for the components that came with the player:-
1) A cd that had some utility softwares and drivers you would need if you ran an OS older than XP.
2) A rubber cover that can be used to protect it against scratch.
3) A zebronics headset( loved its quality, even though my father says it is slightly bigger than his ears and is not fitting into his.)
4)A couple of those cotton coverings for your headset.
5)An adapter that had a usb 1.0 port on one side.( you can charge it even if you don't have a PC or laptop. I would advice a PC for charging it though.)
6)A usb type A port to mini usb port chord for connecting the mp3 player to the PC or the charger provided.
7) The box that the player comes in. It has a couple of magnets on its closing flaps that are pretty good. If you are travelling, the box can be used for carrying the accessories. Its good.
Well I would love to mention that this player comes with an internal Li-ion battery that charges itself once you connect it to your computer or the charger. The hassle of changing the battery or removing and re-charging it with a seperate charger is no more.
The features that comes are also good:-
A music menu for playing the mp3 songs, FM radio, recording and a mp3 player system menu.
The FM radio reception is not bad. For me, being in an area with low signal, I gave it up. Absolutely no reception at all. I have not tried the voice recording till now. But going by the review of the feature by others, it is excellent. The radio can be recorded in a 32k WAV format. This feature, I tried only once and it was great. Battery for me lasted for 4-5 hours. In future, I expect it to last for atleast for 3 hours. The 1Gb capacity is more than good for me. You can go for the 2Gb version if you want more memory.
Even as I'm writing this experience, I'm listening to the "Kadal onru allava" song by A.R. Rahman with the player. For anyone expecting an average mp3 player with good music playing capabilities and an average price, this would come as an boon with more than average performance. Finally an excellent mp3 player for an average price of only 1250 Rs/-.
